Saudi Anchorwoman Creates a Stir — Here’s the Video That All the Fuss Is About

A female television news presenter broke with tradition and created an uproar in Saudi Arabia. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the news presenter, who is not named in the report, appeared on TV without wearing a veil.

The woman was reporting for the network Al Ekhbariya, and her decision not to wear the traditional hijab was met with both condemnation and support, the story reports.

“But any hopes that the broadcaster, which became Saudi’s first channel to employ female presenters after it launched [in] 2004, would be helping push women’s rights further were soon dashed,” the publication notes.

A Saudi TV official said the presenter had been taped in the U.K. and that such an incident wouldn’t be repeated.

The official, Saleh Al Mughailif, is quoted saying: “She was not in a studio inside Saudi Arabia and we do not tolerate any transgression of our values and the country’s system.”